The sulfuric smell of Sector 9 wrapped around Ryn like a familiar shroud as he and Cassia emerged from the Maw's jaw. The smog stuck to his skin, covering the sweat and dried blood.
He adjusted the wrappings around his right arm for what felt like the hundredth time, the rough fabric chafing against the jagged crystals beneath. The stolen dampener-tech woven into the cloth muted the glow, but couldn't stop the persistent thrum that now matched his pulse—or maybe it was the Maw's pulse. He wasn't sure anymore.
Cassia limped beside him, her once-pristine battle gown now a tattered mess of half-repaired nanites(A/N-nanotech). The gold design along her collar flickered weakly, its glow dimmed by the black veins creeping up her neck. She kept her hood pulled low, but nothing could hide the way her left pupil had begun breaking like broken glass.
"You're staring again," she muttered without turning her head.
"Just making sure you don't collapse before we get paid," Ryn said, flexing his hidden fingers. The movement sent needles of pain shooting up to his shoulder.
Cassia's lips twitched. "How romantic."
"Am I?" Ryn replied
The Bleeding Market loomed before them, its rusted metal stalls illuminated by stolen Conclave tech and the crimson neon that gave the district its name. The vault stood at the market's heart, guarded by two hulking figures in modified Eclipse armor whose helmet scanners swept the crowd with mechanical precision.
Ryn's wrapped hand itched violently as they approached.
The vault keeper didn't blink as Cassia input the contract codes. His augmented eyes flickered with pale green light as he verified their identities.
"Eighty thousand," the man grunted, sliding a credit chip across the counter. The tiny sliver of crystal glowed faintly with embedded verification codes. "No returns."
Ryn snatched it before Cassia could react, tucking it securely into his scav-rig(A/N-dimension ring).
The keeper's nostrils flared as he leaned closer taking a long sniff. "You smell like the Maw, scavenger. Like rotting god-flesh."
Cassia's dagger pressed against the man's throat before Ryn could respond. The blade dimpled the skin above his Adam's apple. "And you smell like someone who talks too much."
A tense silence stretched between them. Then the keeper raised his hands slowly, chuckling. "Easy, noble lady. Just making conversation."
They left quickly after that, melting back into the market's chaotic flow.
The Rusted Mirage Clinic's flickering sign greeted them like an old friend. Inside, the air hung thick with antiseptic and something darker—the metallic tang of Godrot that no amount of cleaning could erase.
Lira sat upright in her room, her dull faded eyes locking onto Ryn the moment he stepped through the torn curtain. She looked better than when he left, the Godrot advance had clearly slowed—but the shadows beneath her eyes had deepened, giving her face a hollowed, looking like skeleton.
"You're late," she said softly, her voice rough from disuse.
Ryn tossed the credit chip onto her bedside table. The sharp clatter made the other patients stir—a hollow-eyed child in the far corner, an old man whose cough rattled with the wet, telltale sound of god-flesh rejection.
"Had to stop for flowers," Ryn said, forcing a grin.
Lira's gaze dropped to his wrapped arm, then flicked to Cassia, lingering on the dynast's fractured eye. "You both look like hell."
Cassia leaned against the wall near the door, arms crossed. The movement made her wince slightly—a detail Ryn doubted anyone else would notice. "You should see the other guys."
Lira's fingers trembled as she reached for the credits. "Elyria's gone. Took half her research with her."
Ryn's stomach twisted. "What research?"
Lira lifted a cracked dataslate from beneath her thin blanket. The screen glitched , displaying a single line of text that glowed ominously in the dim light:
"Godrot and fragments are two sides of the same corruption."
Then—
Pain exploded through Ryn's arm.
He barely bit back a scream as the crystals beneath his wrappings came to life, blue light seeping through the fabric like water through cracks. The Sundered One's voice slithered into his skull, oily and intimate:
"We can cure her."
Lira gasped, clutching at her chest as if she'd heard it too. Her eyes widened in shock and something else—recognition?
"The fragments rewrite flesh. We can make her whole."
Ryn's vision swam. For a fleeting moment, he saw—no, he knew—Lira as she could be: her veins glowing gold instead of black, her breath steady and strong, the Godrot purged from her system.
"Bring us more. Feed us, and we will spare her."
Cassia's hand clamped down on his shoulder, her grip bruising. "Don't."
Ryn blinked, the vision shattering like glass. Lira was staring at him, her face pale.
"What did it offer you?" she whispered.
Before he could answer, the clinic's alarms blared to life with an ear-splitting shriek.
The window exploded inward first.
A Conclave scout crashed through the glass, his armor scorched and smoking. He was dead before he hit the ground—Cassia's vibro-knife lodged in his throat. She was already moving, her sword singing from its sheath as she positioned herself between the door and Lira's cot.
"Eclipse squad," she snarled. "They tracked us."
Ryn yanked Lira behind him, his wrapped arm pulsing wildly now. Outside, the telltale whine of Conclave hover-units grew louder, their engines vibrating the clinic's thin walls.
Lira gripped his wrist, her fingers icy against his skin. "Ryn—the offer—"
Cassia kicked open the back door, her blade already slick with blood. "We don't have time for this!"
The Sundered One's laughter echoed in Ryn's bones.
Then the world exploded.
Smoke and screams of patients filled the clinic as the front wall disintegrated in a hail of pulse fire. Ryn grabbed Lira through the chaos, shielding her body with his own as debris rained down around them. Cassia carved a path ahead, her sword moving in lethal arcs, but even she couldn't stop the tide of armored soldiers pouring through every opening.
A Conclave enforcer lunged from the smoke—Ryn's wrapped arm lashed out on instinct, the dampeners shredding as blue light erupted from his fingertips. The man's chest caved in like rotten wood, his armor crumbling to dust before he hit the ground.
Lira gasped. "Your hand—"
"Ryn!" Cassia's voice cut through the din.
A shadow loomed in the ruined doorway—a full Eclipse enforcer, his armor thrumming with stolen fragment-energy. Cassia met him blade-to-blade, but the impact sent her skidding back, her Hollow Crown aura flickering weakly like a dying light.
The enforcer raised his pulse cannon, the barrel glowing red-hot.
Time slowed.
The Sundered One's voice purred in Ryn's ear:
"Let us in. Let us save them."
His wrappings burned away in an instant.
Blue light detonated outward like a shockwave that shattered the enforcer's armor like glass. The man didn't even have time to scream before he dissolved into ashes, his weapon fell clattering to the ground in pieces.
Silence fell over the ruined clinic.
Then Cassia was there, her black-and-gold eyes wide with something between awe and terror. "What the hell was that?"
Ryn's arm was bare now—the crystals had spread past his elbow, their glow brighter than ever. Lira stared at it, then at him, her face unreadable.
The Sundered One whispered:
"You see? We keep our promises."
Outside, more boots pounded against the broken pavement.
Cassia grabbed Ryn's collar, her breath hot against his face. "We need to move. Now."
Lira touched his wrist. "Ryn...?"
The clinic burned around them, the flames casting grotesque shadows on the walls. Somewhere in the smoke, a voice laughed—Elyria's voice, though she was nowhere to be seen.
Ryn made his choice.
He grabbed Lira's hand in his normal one, and with Cassia covering their retreat, they fled into the night, the Sundered One's whispers growing louder with every step.